Univers Zero, formed in Belgium in 1974 by Daniel Denis
(Arkham's drummer) and guitarist Roger Trigaux, concocted a sort of chamber fusion jazz-rock
that was both refined and dramatic, usually scored for an ensemble of
strings, harmonium,
organ and bassoon. From the beginning they marked an important breakthrough
for progressive-rock in that they assimilated rock music into
classical and jazz formats (as opposed to the other way around).

Their mission was inaugurated with
Univers Zero (Atem, 1977 - (Cryonic, 1984 - Cuneiform, 2008), recorded
in august 1977 and
reissued as 1313 which was the original catalog number.
when they were a septet and their sound was still inspired by contemporary
rock acts.
The 15-minute Ronde revealed Daniel Denis as an eccentric, exuberant
and erudite composer in the vein of Frank Zappa's Uncle Meat.
The fantasia begins with a hybrid of neoclassical scherzo and minimalist repetition that soon turns into a Frank Zappa-esque fanfare. That begins a
tortured, syncopated journey that alternates Berlioz-like pizzicato
string passages and magniloquent horn and organ crescendoes, Ravel-like
steps and folk dances, gypsy violin melodies and cabaret-like rhythms,
ending in an expressionist nightmare of sustained tones.
Michel Berckmans's bassoon, Marcel Dufrane's violin, Patrick Hanappier's
viola and Emmanuel Nicaise's harmonium ran the gamut from clownish to high-brow,
while Denis' conduction left little to chance.
Trigaux's
Docteur Petiot is a more clownish piece with emphasis on trivial
melodies and rhythms bordering on military marches and the music-hall.
Strings and harpsichord dominate the middle-eastern saraband Malasie,
also composed by Trigaux and also leaning towards the jovial end of the spectrum.
The CD reissue includes Denis' 28-minute La Faulx (april 1979), a jam
that builds up slowly from some avant-noise improvisation to structured
melodic and rhythmic patterns.

Heresie (1979) veered towards gothic atmospheres and discordant,
industrial textures. Focusing on orchestration and production rather than
on melody and harmony, Ceux Du Dehors (1982) and Uzed (1984)
arrived at a smooth, stately, stylish and occasionally titanic flow of
ideas. Capable of quoting and mixing stereotypes from
atonal music as well as jazz-rock, minimalism as well as Eastern music,
classical fantasias as well as requiems, the multiple tours de force of
Heatwave (1986) rank among prog-rock's greatest achievements.
Cinematic and suspenseful, elegant and dramatic,
Daniel Denis' compositions for strings, woodwinds and keyboards coined a
new kind of chamber music and jazz fusion.
If English is your first language and you could translate the Italian text, please contact me.
Scroll down for recent reviews in english.

Rhythmix (october 2001 - Cuneiform, 2002), the second album of new material since the
1999 reunion, displays Daniel Denis' further explorations into classical music.
Ten musicians contribute to the album, and that accounts for the increasingly
"orchestral" sound.
Terres Noires employs a plethora of quotations from 20th century
music and ends in the grotesque fashion of
Frank Zappa's Orchestral Favourites.
Shangai's Digital Talks, perhaps the most inventive piece here, is
a sinister sketch, heavy on the keyboards' staccatos.
The slow, repetitive Reve Cyclique smells of fauve ballets of a century
before, updated to Sixties' minimalism and exotic jazz of the Fifties.
The suave bassoon melody of The Invisible Light could be taken from
a Cajkovsky ballet.
The album also features some of Denis' boldest experiments, like the percussive
nightmare of Rouages, that weds Edgar Varese, Crash Worship and
Mike Oldfield, or the orgiastic Emotions Galactiques, that mixes
a frantic horns fanfare (sounding like a beehive),
confused piano hammering and Steve Reich-ian wooden percussions.
The Fly-Toxmen's Land is the only track that clearly belongs to prog-rock
(i.e., to rock music): emphatic, loud and exilarating.
Occasionally revolutionary, at times ahead of its time, always intriguing,
rarely redundant, Denis' music continues to surprise and to entertain.

The fourth album since the reunion,
Implosion (november 2003 - Cuneiform, 2004), released on the 30th anniversary of
the band's birth, is not up to their standards. A few of the motifs are
brilliant (Falling Rain Dance,
Mellotronic), but most of the (short) pieces
and even the nine-minute suite Meandres
are mere reiterations of prog-rock cliches
and, in any event, too fragmented to stand up as a whole.
Partch's X-Ray is the notable exception: an avantgarde piece
overflowing with intriguing solutions.

Live (june 2005)

Relaps (2008)
collects previously unreleased live recordings from march 1984 to
february 1986.

Clivages (may 2009 - Cuneiform, 2010) was a new studio album
(Daniel Denis on drums, Michel Berckmans on bassoon, oboe
and
English horn, Kurt Bud&eacute on clarinet and alto sax, Pierre
Chevalier on
keyboards, Dimitri Evers on bass, Andy Kirk on guitar and Martin Lauwers
on violin).
The joyful orchestral fanfare that opens the work, Les Kobolds ,
contrasts starkly with the tragic tone of the suite that follows,
the twelve-minute Warrior, that could be the
expressionistic soundtrack to a horror movie, replete with
hard-rock guitar, industrial rhythm and free-jazz horns.
By the same token, the
jazz and exotic overtones of the impressionistic carousel Soubresauts
contrast starkly with the noir languor of the eight-minute bluesy lento Retour De Foire.
In other words, this is an album of polar opposites,
the neoclassical intermezzo Vacillements balancing the
abstract electroacoustic intermezzo Earth Scream.
The 14-minute Straight Edge embodies that split personality, alternating
between dreamy brooding quiescence and thundering frenzied neurosis.